Six times leaders tried to use Mandarin to impress China

French president is not the first to use a few well-placed phrases to improve ties with China – but not everyone gets it right

Diplomacy

SCMP Reporters

Published: 12:02pm, 11 Jan 2018

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French President Emmanuel Macron won the hearts of Chinese netizens this week after learning one of his key slogans in Mandarin ahead of a visit to China.

He’s not the first to use the language as a tool for gaining allies in one of the world’s most powerful nations. A number of world leaders and high-profile business personalities have spoken publicly in Mandarin – with varying degrees of success. Here are some recent hits and misses:

1. Emmanuel Macron

Candid footage posted to Twitter on Monday shows the French president diligently practising Mandarin. Determined to accurately execute the language’s notoriously difficult tones, the president asks: “So where am I supposed to breathe?”

Enunciating the phrase, he says, “rang diqiu zaici weida” – “make the planet great again”.

Macron, who speaks fluent English, was applauded for his efforts on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.

“President Macron’s really giving it his all,” one commenter said. “In order to spread his environmental philosophy in China, he even learned how to say ‘make the planet great again’ in Chinese hahahaha.”

Macron has caused a linguistic stir before – when speaking English. In December last year, he gave a speech in English at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Marine Le Pen criticised the move, tweeting: “Presidential candidate Macron goes to Berlin to do a conference in English … poor France!”

2. Malcolm Turnbull

Not everyone has fared as well as Macron. In December, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull introduced foreign interference laws to parliament.

Referring to China in particular, Turnbull declared that Australia would “stand up” against meddling in its national affairs. Switching between Mandarin and English, Turnbull said:

“Modern China was founded in 1949 with these words: ‘The Chinese people have stood up’. It was an assertion of sovereignty, it was an assertion of pride.”

“And we stand up and so we say, the Australian people stand up.”

Turnbull was roundly criticised for his statement, which referred to a phrase that has been widely cited as the opening to Mao Zedong’s October 1, 1949, speech in Tiananmen Square. It’s possible, however, that Mao never spoke those words, as the Post reported in 2009.

3. Kevin Rudd

Unfortunately for Turnbull, his efforts were immediately compared with those of former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, who was a scholar of Asian Studies at the Australian National University, and frequently spoke Mandarin during his time as leader.

At the Asia Society’s National Chinese Language Conference in the US in 2014, Rudd said learning to speak Chinese was “a doorway to understanding”.

“To learn anyone’s language, let alone the language of the country that is about to become the world’s largest economy, is a simple mark of respect.”

4. Prince William

Rounding off his first trip to China in March 2015, Prince William opened his address in Yunnan province with greetings in Mandarin.

“Thank you, royal family, for your concern for Xishuangbanna’s natural resources,” one user wrote on Weibo.

“He’s so loving,” another user wrote in response to a photo of William feeding a carrot to a baby elephant. “It doesn’t matter whether he’s bald or not!”

Later the same year, William spoke Mandarin at the start of a speech about the ivory trade in London, hours before President Xi Jinping arrived in the UK for a state visit.

His speech focused on “the mass destruction and trafficking of iconic endangered species”.

The third in line to the British throne hopes to gives his son a head start, it seems, as Prince George is set to learn French and Mandarin at Thomas’s Battersea school.

5. Arabella Kushner

If Prince George does appear in public speaking Mandarin, it won’t be the first time a young relation of a head of state has been used to win Chinese hearts.

Donald Trump’s granddaughter has played the diplomat more than once, performing Mandarin songs twice for ‘Grandpa’ Xi Jinping.

6. Mark Zuckerberg

Away from politics, business leaders are also brushing up on their language skills. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has famously been learning Mandarin for years, sharing his progress on social media as he goes.

In 2014, Zuckerberg conducted a nearly 30-minute Q&A at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

US media offered mixed responses: Wired and Mashable gushed while Foreign Policy magazine and Quartz were critical. Chinese netizens, however, were impressed. “This is legendary,” wrote one Weibo commenter. “His Chinese is great,” added another. Mission accomplished?

Zuckerberg also spoke Mandarin when he wished Chinese netizens a happy Lunar New Year in 2016.

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